Many interior building products such as ceiling tiles, fiber panels and gypsum wallboard and other types of wallboard, for example, following their installation, can exhibit a tendency to emit aldehyde, including formaldehyde, vapors and/or other kinds of volatile organic compounds (“VOCs”) to their surroundings. The sources of the aldehydes and other VOC's may reside in the basic interior building product itself or in coverings, coatings and other adjuncts applied to the basic interior building product.
The emission of the aldehydes and other VOCs can be undesirable and efforts can be undertaken to avoid their release into their surroundings because of their deleterious effects on human and animal health, as well as on the general comfort of humans and animals exposed to the emissions. In this regard, formaldehyde and certain other VOC's that can be emitted from interior building products have been classified as cancer-causing agents.
Therefore, a need exists to control the emission of aldehydes, including formaldehyde, and other VOC's from these interior building products. One method of doing so involves incorporating with the interior building products a substance that will tie-up the aldehydes and other VOC's and prevent them from being released from the interior building products into the surrounding environment. Such substances can be incorporated into the interior building products either when the interior building products are manufactured, at the time the interior building products are installed or after the interior building products are installed for example.
One consideration in determining the suitability of any particular substance for the purpose of tying-up aldehydes and other VOC's can be the effect the composite that is formed as a result of the substance tying-up an aldehyde or another VOC has on the interior building product. That is to say that the composite should not adversely affect the physical or chemical properties or esthetic values of the interior building product.